


Love at First Flame

by LunaBeth



Series: Tales of Fire & Water [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: First Time Meeting, M/M, Sokka is a Warrior, same reality but slightly different, they're young, tweaked reality, zukka - Freeform, zuko is bitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25463404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaBeth/pseuds/LunaBeth
Summary: Sokka meets the dumb Prince of the Fire Nation for the first time. And maybe he thinks he's kind of cute. Also, very annoying and evil, of course.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Tales of Fire & Water [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844374
Comments: 2
Kudos: 141





	Love at First Flame

**Author's Note:**

> so im rewatching after just finishing it. i love all the ships lol but i love Zukka the most so im just going through, squeezing cute little stuff into the holes of reality. This is when they first met, i think the second episode. I just pictured Sokka thinking he's cute loll
> 
> don't own any of these characters :)

It had to be just under half an hour since Aang left. Sokka thought he’d feel a little bad about running him out like that but it looks like Katara would be feeling that for the both of them. As a tribe, they were already vulnerable. Being their only protector, he couldn’t put that at risk for some stranger and a wild animal they found trapped in an ice cube. Or ice egg.

As if manifesting trouble itself with his worries, he felt the snow under his boots rumble. Anxiety pumped through his veins and his legs went weak, his body recognizing the signs of intruders as his mind raced a million different ways. Another attack? An invasion? An invasion and he was their only source of defense. Oh, boy.

Remembering the promise to his dad, Sokka spent no time jumping - leaping to his hut to armor up. Definitely feeling grateful about all the times he practiced painting his war face on with great speed.

Sokka let the adrenaline pump through him, crouching in position in front of the women and children huddled together. 

It was a big ship but it was alone. Eyeing the ramp, he saw the tacky red uniforms and pointy headpieces. He felt his eyes well up, realizing he was thinking of his mother for a second, that moment they told him she was gone for good.

Sokka cried out in anger, charging toward the first guy he saw. The man in the center whose left eye sort of matched his uniform.

Only took a few seconds to get pummeled off the side of the ramp. He spat out a clump of melting snow and huffed, pulling himself out right away in irritation. 

That’s when he heard the voice of their Fire Nation leader, “Where is he? I know he’s here!” realizing he was just a kid, like him.

Fire stretched through the air, terrifying his people. Sokka shouted again, coming from the back this time.

Except whoever this kid was, well he was obviously very well trained because he dodged Sokka with a small duck, flipping him onto his butt before blasting a shot of fire from his palms. Rolling out of the way in a scream, he remembered his secret weapon. He shot his boomerang out, missing his enemy’s neck by mere inches. 

“Show no fear!” Came a small voice from the side.

One of the little tribe boys tossed a spear that Sokka caught with a grin, feeling confident. He ran forward once more in a very water tribe fashion. It was only milliseconds but he managed to meet eyes with his opponent. Closer, he saw that the red on his eye was obviously a burn and -

Sokka was met with a grunt. The guy took his damn spear in a second and snapped it into four pieces. Two seconds later, his sweet girl came flying back, whacking the metal helmet forward. That earned fists clenched full of fire, making Sokka think this was it. The rest of his tribe would be wiped out and he was too weak to do anything about it.

Everything happened quickly; Aang swooshing in riding a penguin, crashing into angry fire boy and flipping him face first into a pile of snow. Cheers erupted from the children and some of the women. Sokka, knowing they were saved, still couldn’t help feeling a surge of annoyance pass through his body. 

Aang turned with an earnest smile, “Hi Katara. Hi Sokka.”

“Hi Aang.” he said in the friendliest tone he could muster (not friendly at all), “Thanks for coming.”

Scarface got up quick, breathing deeply. He spread his fiery arms out causing Aang to mirror him and jump into a fighting position with his magic flying stick.

The fire nation men circled around Aang’s small shape, almost enclosing him before Aang rammed his stick into the snow, shoving the men back with giant blows of snow.

“Looking for me?” Aang asked, staring scarface down. Now that the young fire leader’s helmet was blown off, Sokka could see his whole head, noticing the one ponytail first and then the burn and how far it stretched back, even covering his ear. He was pale and full of rage. Literally steaming.

This was what kept Sokka distracted before realizing what it was that he just heard.

Scarface squinted in confusion, “You’re the Avatar?”

“Aang?” Katara whispered, suddenly at Sokka’s side.

“No way.” Sokka said simply.

“I spent years preparing for this encounter. Training. Meditating.” Fire boy explained as they both paced around in a circle, tense. “You’re just a child.” he said, raising his voice.

“Well you’re just a teenager.” Aang replied, innocence in his tone. He didn’t want to fight, that much was clear.

Scarface practically growled, moving his arms and spewing fire in circular waves. Aang did his best to dodge them, waving them down with his glider. It was painful to watch and at certain points the fire jumped out, daring to burn the women huddled in fear. Aang looked back, beads of sweat trailing down his polished head. 

“If I go with you,” Aang said, stopping in his tracks. He held his glider out, almost as a white flag, “will you promise to leave everyone alone?”

Silence filled the air for a moment before Scarface nodded simply, signaling his men to grab the Avatar.

Sokka’s breath was caught in his throat. The Avatar was back. That meant  _ hope  _ for the world.

He was broken out of his thoughts by his sister’s voice. “No, Aang. Don’t do this.” she said, voice high with fear.

“Don’t worry, Katara. It will be okay. Take care of Appa until I get back.” he said, a little too calm.

Sokka, really resting in the snow at this point, looked up to see Scarface still standing there, seemingly lost in thoughts of his own. 

“How could you be this evil? Terrorizing people won’t earn you respect.” Sokka spat.

Scarface took steps forward, minimizing the space between him and Sokka, making Sokka crawl back a few inches in response. As fire boy leaned forward to make his point, he caught the scent of ash and cinnamon.

“Keep your respect. I don’t need it.”

Sokka decided it couldn’t get much worse than this. He spat at him, aiming right for the scar.

Fire boy shouted in disgust, turning back he shouted, “Head a course for the Fire Nation. I’m going home.” before turning back to Sokka and locking eyes with him. They were  _ gold  _ and sad to say, kind of entrancing. Suddenly, Sokka was yanked up swiftly, as if he held a feather’s weight. He patted frantically at the small flames that suddenly appeared on his blue overcoat where Scarface’s hands were. 

“I should end you right here for that bold little stunt.”

“Bite me.” Sokka hissed. 

Katara’s voice came clear from behind him. “Let him go! You said you would leave us alone!” she cried helplessly. 

Still being held by an extremely hot grip(literally), those golden eyes bore into him, challenging him. Sokka held his gaze. It was a weird moment and it definitely lasted longer than it needed to. 

Finally, something broke what felt like a moment in eternity. 

“Prince Zuko, he is locked and secure. Let us go now!” An older voice, clearly. 

“Prince Zuko? As in Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation?”

Zuko glanced at the ship then right back at Sokka, lips in a tight line. “Good.” he said, throwing Sokka down into the snow as rough as he could, “Now you know who you’re talking to.” he said, turning his back to him and walking to his ship.

God he was so  _ annoying. Stupid Fire Nation Prince with his cool scar and flaming hands. Sokka realized: he could have died right now. _

__

So, why then, did he want to kill this guy but also kind of kiss him at the same time?

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He really grossed himself out sometimes.

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~

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“We have to go after that ship, Sokka. Aang saved our tribe. Now, we have to save him.” Katara said anxiously.

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Somehow the Universe knew this too, bringing Appa from behind the shadows as she said that.

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It didn’t take long to spot the ship once they found out how to tell Appa to fly.

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Soon enough, there was fighting and then Aang was thrown off the ship, yielding a scream from Katara. Then, Aang was glowing and floating over a spiral of sea water, flinging the crew out of the way with a giant wave, which seemed to extract his last bit of energy because he collapsed seconds after. 

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Katara and Sokka jumped off of Appa, rushing to his side.

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“I dropped my staff.” Aang said wearily, pointing at it almost hanging at the end of the ship.

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“Got it.” Sokka assured him. He screamed once he saw Zuko hanging off the boat on the other end of the staff for support.

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“It’s you!” Sokka yelled, yanking at the staff. He dodged a fireball Zuko managed to throw toward the sky.

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“Let go!” he shouted, completely done with this guy already.

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“If you can make me.” Zuko challenged, switching his grip to the edge of the ship.

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“Oh I would make you do a lot of things, trust me.” Sokka growled, bonking Zuko’s confused face down with the glider, then again on his bald head; the last bonk sending him falling into the ocean. 

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“Aha!”

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“Sokka, let’s go!” Katara yelled.

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“I’m going, I’m going!”

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So. That’s _kind_ of how it started. Not really. Not yet.

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End file.
